The Edge of Freedom #35"
By: Favor, Medic / Morale Officer, [PST]

Stardate: 58204.14 1500

Ensign Favor rolled up from her bed to a sitting position and placed her feet on the floor. Her plantar fasciatis hurt like hell. "Time for more injections," Favor groaned aloud, but she knew that for her own health, she could only get the kertasin shots three times every 365 days. Wishful thinking again, she'd just injected her foot with the drug a scant two weeks ago, and wouldn't be able to do it again for another four months.

Limping to her bathroom, she washed her face in the sink, and heard the quiet hush of the door to her quarters opening behind her. "Damn it! What now!" she shrieked, turning around, expecting to verbally skin another intrusive, teenaged crewman.

A little human child stood in the door, a slapped look on her face. "Oh dear," Favor said. She and the child blinked at one another. The child stepped into Favor's quarters like she owned the place.

I need a drink, Favor thought.

This had to be one of the refugee children. Yes, yes it definately was. Favor recognized her from the Sick Bay. As with most medical professionals, Favor characterized and remembered her patients from their injuries. There was the "broken leg", the "blasted guts". And so on.

This one was "Baldy". She'd suffered horrible burns over her scalp, and although little tufts of hair were growing back, they looked like cheap hair plugs.

She wasn't an attractive child by any stretch, and the raw red scalp didn't help, but she sure didn't look lost, either. She reminded Favor of someone's pet, once domestic, now gone feral. Wild, but perfectly able to take care of herself. A few scars here and there, but she'd be fine. Favor never worried about the feral ones. It was the sappy ones that she knew would be eaten alive by the world.

"So, Toots. What brings you to my lair?" she asked the child with false cheer.

What she really wanted was for this little brat to get the hell out of her quarters so that she could swig something that would make her forget the screaming tendon in her foot. Wasn't someone else in charge of babysitting? It sure wasn't something Ensign Favor had volunteered for.

The girl did not reply. She simply gazed at Favor, her eyes like two bullet holes in her face.

Favor reached into a cupboard and withdrew a bottle of Ahi Paka. "The replicator just can't get this right, so whenever I'm on leave, I pick up a stash of the real deal," she explained apologetically although the girl gave no sign she even heard or cared what Favor said.

Favor sat down on her bed, the authentic bottle of fermented beverage in her hand. She longed for this kid to leave so she could drink in peace and quiet. The little warning flag in her mind went up again---the one that read, those who habitually drink alone are at high risk for substance abuse---but she brushed the thought aside.

"Come here. Let me see your head," Favor said, patting the bed next to her.

The child strolled across the room, and as Favor held the girl's chin, turning her head this way and that, eyeing the healing sores on her head, the child spoke. "I want to talk about families that don't live together," she blurted out.

Oh crud! Where was the Counselor when Favor needed her? This was her bailiwick, not the medic's! She needed to talk to the Counselor anyway, about Dr. Dane's mental freakout the other day, when she imagined seeing assassins in the Sick Bay.

The Ensign sighed. "Sure, kiddo. Go ahead, talk." Screw the cup! Favor took a long hard pull on the mouth of her bottle.

"My mother doesn't live with me," the child said.

"Oh? Why's that?"

"Because she's dead." The girl looked at Favor expectantly.

Ensign Favor tapped her fingers against her knee. "Is that right."

"Yes. She's dead."

Favor nodded slowly. "Mine's dead, too," she replied. It seemed to be the only thing to say.

The little girl nodded, and let out the breath she'd been holding. She almost seemed relieved. "So, you know."

Favor reached out and took the girl's hand in hers. "Yes," she said. "I do. I surely, surely do."

The two of them sat in silence on Favor's bed, and thought their own private thoughts about dead mothers, and families that don't live together.